FEATURES Tree Felling Who's to blame at Autumn Ridge? Kevin Welsh, OP Features Editor Okay, faithful readers, let’s pretend. Let’s pretend that you hired a company to manage all the household affairs you didn’t have time for—like gardening, land- scaping, and, let’s say the cooking, One day, you return home from work and discover all the trees and plants in your yard had been unceremoniously ripped up, and replaced with a giant, rutted sea of mud and clay. To top things off, you find a bill waiting for you for all the costs involved. How would you feel? For the residents of Autumn Ridge, a condominium complex in the Murrayville area of Langley, this is pret- ty much exactly what happened. Residents (who are also owners) are outraged that Baywest Management, the management company contracted to manage the com- plex, gave the go-ahead to have 29 mature douglas firs and western red cedars removed from the west side of the property without the consent of the owners, and with the owners faced with the bill as well as the cost of any further landscaping. Trying to make sense of this issue is irritating, frus- trating, mesmerizing, and sometimes nauseating. But here’s an honest stab at it—a rundown of events from day one. This account is according to the residents and owners at Autumn Ridge, and all the stories coincide with the others. And no one can argue that 29 trees are gone, replaced with a mud pit, and that the owners were not consulted and are on the hook for all the costs. Roughly five years ago, there was a sewer line break at Autumn Ridge, and Baywest hired Ted’s Plumbing to come in and fix it. No problem there. A few years ago, during a windstorm, one of the trees on the west end of the property fell against the building. At that time, Baywest brought in an arborist to assess the health and safety of the other bordering trees. Five other trees were removed after assessment, while the rest of the trees were assessed as being in various states of condi- tion from “good” to “fair to poor.” Based on the assessment, Baywest decided the trees would eventually have to be removed for safety reasons, yet neglected to bring this decision to the attention of the owners. Fast forward to a month and a half ago. Water sud- denly began pouring into the underground parking lot at Autumn Ridge. It was declared an emergency by Baywest, which gives them the right to go ahead and address the situation without consulting the strata coun- cil or the owners. Ted’s Plumbing, a company with two complaints against them with the Better Business Bureau, was hired again, and they came in and provided a temporary fix for the situation. To many, it would have appeared as though the emergency had been recti- fied. However, the plumbing work continued, and Ted’s Plumbing began to dig along the foundation and found another break. The original pipes had been fastened to the foundation of the building with hangers. One sec- tion of pipe had come away from the hangers, and had no soil to support it. The situation was chalked up to poor workmanship. At this time, Baywest consulted with Ted’s Plumbing and gave them the go ahead to address this situation, as well. Ted’s Plumbing began rerouting the sewer line away from the foundation to the perimeter of the prop- a2 aa a ae erty line. An Autumn Ridge by-law states that the own- ers must approve any expenditure over $2,000. The cost of this work totaled roughly $50,000, yet this was done without consulting the owners, as Baywest claimed the situation was still an emergency. A backhoe was brought in, and a 6-foot trench was dug along the west side of the property. In the process, the roots to 29 trees—many well over four stories tall— were severed or destroyed, and the sprinkler system was broken in three places. Baywest then called in an arborist, who confirmed that all the trees had to come down. At around this time, residents began asking ques- tions. A meeting was finally called with Baywest, owners, and the strata council in attendance. It has also been widely rumored that Baywest’s lawyer was also in atten- dance, but remained anonymous. At the meeting, the owners were told that a tree cutting company had been hired and the trees would start coming down the very next day. Owners were shocked, both with the immi- nent loss of 29 trees as well as the cost of the plumb- ing, “We didn’t have time or the opportunity to get a second opinion or voice our concerns on the matter,” says one Baywest owner whose condo faces west. “We didn’t go into the meeting prepared to ask the right questions. We didn’t have any time to prepare.” Adding insult to injury, memos were delivered to owners’ suites bringing owners up to speed on the developments. On the original visit from the arborist 5 years ago, one memo said, “It has been accepted since this report that at some point in time, all of these trees were going to be removed.” The memo went on to say, “Council also agreed that the removal of these trees was an opportunity to improve the appearance of the landscaping in the area with grass and new shrubs, etc. because there will be sufficient light to allow grass and several other types of shrubs to grow.” It should be noted that council doesn’t remember agreeing to any such thing. Further angering some owners, an email sent to one owner explaining why oweners were not consulted beforehand, and why a second opinion or a second quote was not sought, stated, “we did have raw sewage backing up in people’s suites.” This never happened. At the meeting, an owner’s landscaping committee was formed (independent from Baywest and the strata coun- cil) to decide how to replace the trees, though costs remain a concern. The trees all came down—teplaced with a 300-foot strip of mud adorned with puddles of standing, black water (Ted’s Plumbing has been spotted taking water samples). One member of the landscaping committee went so far as to discuss the situation with the Langley Township Arborist, who reportedly said that the strata council or management group is legally bound to main- tain the existing landscaping plan, which was submitted to and approved by the Township. Since then, the com- mittee has brought in a few local arborists to looks at the land, discuss solutions, and gather quotes. For the leveling of the ground, bark mulch, planting 15 trees, and a gravel path, the owners of Autumn Ridge are looking at an additional $8,000-$20,000. Petitions are on the move to have Baywest dumped 78 2Le e, T5283 92S 2745s e265 SAAADR ERA RA AA o opfeatures@gmail.com as the management group. Hard questions are being asked, and answers are being met with skepticism, cyni- cism, and outright disbelief. Some owners feel they or their contingency fund should not be held liable for these costs, while Baywest are holding firm that they acted promptly and appropriately in the face of an emergency (there were broken water and sewer pipes, after all). The only thing that everybody is sure of is that 29 trees are gone and people are furious about it.